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Saturday, March 12, 2005

collateral damage

Once upon a time, in a land far far away...there was a peaceful and serene country. It was governed by a wise king who lead very powerful army. This army was very strong such that it had various special army units. Every unit was specialied in specific skills and loaded with omnipotent weapon. Each of those unit can produce their own weapon of mass destruction.

One day, several spy agents picked up foreign objects in one small town near the offshore. They brought it to the labs to be analysed and decrypted. Upon detailed analysis and investigation, those foreign objects are found to be special detonation bombs which will be exploded in given time. Upon explosion, these bombs can cause widespread destruction and could killed thousands of citizens.

This security matter was brought to the wise king.

"So, my dearest ministers...what should we do regarding this matter? This bombs is one very serious threat to our sovereignty"

"Dear king, I think we should investigate the one who send those bombs. Find out their exact location and their capability. If they don't want to surrender, we will use force to destroy them" suggested Secretary of Internal Defense.

"I agree. I will asked the army to secure our borders and locate those dangerous culprits." The Minister of Defense proposed.

Thus, the bomb were brought to the special army lab to be further analysed. The army scientist managed to elucidate the exact mechanism of those bombs and detect the weaknesses in the bomb design. Special anti terrorist squad were called and they were instructed to locate all those dangerous bombs throughout the country. Upon finding, they were told to reconfigured the bomb, if not detonate the bombs at safe places.

Several days later, several towns were hit by the mysterious missiles. Casualties were high, public fear were aroused. The king declared emergency throughout the country. The armed forces without delay were called to the site of explosion. Missiles come out of everywhere. Chaos emerged. The army could not handle those missiles since those missiles were superior than their own missile-guided weaponry. The enemy missiles were faster and none of the counter-air missile can destroy them. The army were almost hopeless. The citizens were trembling to the death.

"This is the same design as of the bombs we found the last time. I believe the enemy have managed to infiltrate our tight defense. We need to brought in our emergency special forces for this matter." proposed the Ministry of Defense to the wise king.

The emergency special forces were the last line of defense in the armed forces. They were highly specialised army that only to be used for very very critical situations. Upon instruction, they will kill the target without mercy. The weapons used were the nuclear and the hydrogen bomb together with highly powerful massive explosion. And they have their own secret weapon that nobody knows even the king himself.

Not only killing the target, they killed everything and everyone. A very dangerous army that can destroy the entire country if they were not controlled.

The king contemplated very hard. "I guess this is our only option. Our army could not find those enemy and the bombs were everywhere."

Days passed. Many enemy missiles pouring down upon the country. Even the palace was hit. The king was brought to the underground fort. The emergency special forces started their counter measure. For each enemy missiles detected, one nuclear was launched. The result, the missile were destroyed but together with the people nearby. Radiation was enourmous.

The emergency special forces travelled all the way from their secret undeground base to all parts of the country. They established their army camps and prepared their armour and shields. Nuclear weapons were launched from time to time. The location of the mysterious enemy were sought but to no avail.

Days passed to weeks. Weeks passed to months. Many missiles were destroyed but still the location of the enemy remain a mystery to the emergency special forces and to the king. The radiation from the usage of the nuclear weapon and their own weapon of mass destruction were catastrophic. Many towns were destroyed not from the enemy missiles but from the explosion from the massive their own nuclear weaponry. The emergency special forces fired at all the missiles using massive and powerful weapon but the collateral damage was so great.

Great headache was the king. Frustated were the armed forces. Feared were the citizens. Who and where are this mysterious enemy? Why they are attacking us?

The king finally asked help from nearby countries. He asked them to help his helpless army that have already destroyed many parts of the beautiful country. He gravefully feared that his country was falling apart from time to time. The emergency special forces were killing them slowly. The emergency special forces were out of his control.

The help came later. The air force of the nearby countries together with the aerospace armada came. They erected inter - satellite detection. Monumental stuctures were built. The location of the enemy finally, after all these months, were found.

To their surprise, the enemy was hiding deep inside in their own country. Hiding among the thick jungle surrounding the great mountain, the armed forces deadened. Nobody can killed the enemy as long as they are in the jungle of those great mountain. None of their nuclear weaponry can destroyed all those massive mountain.

Enemy missiles came from everywhere. Nuclears were launched. The king succumbed to tears and fear. The people were running out everywhere. Radiation could not be longer contained. The palace was destroyed and become ruins.

The armed forces of nearby countries were defeated by the physical barrier of those thick deep jungle of the great mountain. The jungle provides invisible barrier for the enemy. The combined forces of the army could not penetrate into those jungle. Hopeless were they.

The months passed into years. Ruins were common. Dead bodies were scattered. The staunch from the dead were unpleasant. The king were dying from grave sadness. His own loyal armed forces were frustated. The enemy was winning from day to day. Losing was inevitable.

This story was none of those science fiction. This story happened in the past, present and the future. This story shall remain a lesson and reminder for all of us on the great suffering of those citizens.

This is a story of our own frustated immune system combating the invisible bacteria who was hiding in the thick mucus in the airways of patient who were suffering from cystic fibrosis. The patient of cystic fibrosis were dying from time to time. The weaknesses lies in the defect of specific mutation in their own genes. The mucus were so thick that none of our powerful immune system soldiers could penetrate through. The mucus were so massive that none of the mighty antibodies could kill the bacteria hiding deep inside. The frustated immune system starts to kill the person slowly and gradually.

To date, many but not all cystic fibrosis patients could lived until the age of 20s. Fewer who could lived up to the age of 40s. The death were coming to greet them. Our very own health professionals are working very hard to crack this disease. Cystic fibrosis, one disease into which our very own protective immune system slowly becoming the very threat from within. The collateral damage was exponential. Collateral damage, the hallmark of the cystic fibrosis.